A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to an ink jet printer and, more particularly, to an improved ink jet nozzle configuration for an electrostatic ink jet printer.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Previous jet nozzles consisted of hypodermic tubing cut by an oblique plane at an angle somewhere between 0.degree. and 90.degree. with the tube centerline. Ink would flow through the tube from the reservoir and rest on the cut at the opposite end. This ink was held in place by surface tension causing an ellipsoidally shaped meniscus to form. The application of an electric potential to the jet/ink combination caused an electric field to be formed. At some critical value of electric field or voltage a cone of ink formed. Thereafter an ink filament is created from the point of the cone. The ink flow is modulated by variations of the electric field which is switched from one value to another. The frequency of the switching of the ink flow is limited by the time taken to form and extinguish this cone. It is this limitation which determined the frequency response of a particular configuration.